Gypsum skaters are hands-on in the community’s new skate park project

The town of Gypsum’s skate park is due for an upgrade. Fulfilling an effort spearheaded by local students, the town is bringing Grindline to the rescue. Grindline is a concrete skate park design and construction company dedicated to building skate facilities with hands-on community influence. 

To kick off the new 10,000-square-foot skate park project, Grindline invited local skaters of all ages and backgrounds to Eagle Valley High School on Friday, where they got an in-depth rundown of the design and building process Grindline employs. Friday’s meeting was also all about feedback. Finding out what kind of skate park to build for the Gypsum community involves finding out what elements local skaters value in a park. 

Dedicated skaters from Gypsum and across the valley rolled up to Eagle Valley High in strong numbers. Close to 50 attendees were eager to get a say on the park’s design.

Even though Friday evening marked local students’ first few hours of freedom at the start of fall break, many student skaters found themselves back in a classroom to give feedback on something they’re passionate about.

“Students, I know that it’s Friday night before break, and you’re here making change happen in your community,” Eagle Valley High School teacher Kendall Vanvalkenburg said. “That’s a big deal. Thank you.”

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However, before making their way into the Grindline skate park meeting, local skaters had some pre-fall break homework. Prior to attending the meeting, skaters were asked to fill out a survey, which helped organize and rank skate park amenities and features the community most wants to see in the new park.

Grindline CEO Matt Fluegge explained that the company, which specializes in building concrete, cast-in-place skate parks, sticks to values that help it create parks it’s proud of.

“Our skate park philosophy is community involvement, timeless design and integration context,” Fluegge said. 

At Friday’s meeting, Gypsum residents let Fluegge from Grindline know just what they wanted to see in the new park. Additionally, Grindline aims to engage the local community even further, by adding artistic design elements to the park that show the spirit and culture of Gypsum. 

Understanding that the local skaters will become the experts of the new park, Grindline sent out an online survey for community members to participate in. Local skaters responded to the survey in strong numbers. Fluegge said the survey got 75 responses from skaters throughout the community. Out of the participants, 68% reside in Gypsum.  

The survey asked locals about what kind of balance they would like to see in the budget and design efforts between the skateable park features and amenities for the skaters. Additionally, respondents had the opportunity to rank their favorite features in a park, voting for what elements Gypsum’s new skate park may have. Because of the importance Grindline puts in getting the community to decide what their skate park will look like, the 75 survey respondents were eager to have their voices heard. For many younger survey participants, this kind of engagement was an introduction to community involvement. 

While presenting the survey results to skaters in attendance on Friday, Fluegge explained how Gypsum’s demographic of respondents was made up of more people under the age of 18 than the corporation typically sees. 

“It’s cool to see that the youth in the community was involved with providing the feedback,” Fluegge said. 

The survey showed that Gypsum skaters would prefer the new skate park to have 80% of its budget and energy focused on skateable park features, while 20% can go toward amenities like benches, shade and other elements. 

Participants in Friday’s meeting explained the importance of keeping much of the project focused on the skate park’s features. Some of the seasoned skaters of the community reflected on past projects in the valley. They discussed how harsh winters take a toll on anything at the park, and how often, amenities get destroyed rather quickly. Many of the attendees agreed that putting energy into keeping the park itself rideable was their main priority. 

The survey results also hinted at some of the street and transitional features Grindline will aim to include in the new park. The respondents made it clear, for example, that ledges, stairs and mini ramps are all elements they would like to skate in Gypsum. 

While Grindline takes community input to heart, Fluegge explained that developing “flow” within the park is something the company’s park designers are experts at. 

“You guys are going to tell us the million things that you want to see in the skate park and we’re going to have to go back and digest all that information and incorporate as much of it as we possibly can,” Fluegge said. “But we have to consider what we know about skate park design and that’s like special relationships between features and stuff like that.”

Having enough time and space to set up and land tricks, as well as move through the park in a safe and fun way, are design elements that Fluegge’s team will need to figure out.

On top of satisfying science and safety, the Grindline team is also tasked with satisfying goals that the town has for the park. Fluegge listed some of the town’s requests in Friday’s meeting. 

“(The project should create) a place where community members can get together in ways that might not otherwise occur,” Fluegge said. 

Another goal the town had for the skate park is to, alongside popular street features, add transitional terrain that the existing Gypsum skate park lacks. 

“I think we can all agree that the existing park is a little outdated and there’s definitely a lot of stuff in there that does not work,” Fluegge said. 

So, in order to meet goals set by the town as well as satisfy local skaters with features they want to see, Grindline has its work cut out for it. Now, the company is working to develop a model that satisfies as many requests at once as possible as well as maintains flow within the park. 

Grindline representatives are scheduled to return to Eagle Valley High School on Nov. 3. At 5 p.m., and local skaters will once again pile into a classroom to give input about the new skate park. At the Nov. 3 meeting, Grindline will present a tentative model to the community in hopes of gaining additional feedback before the design is set to be finalized and approved by the town on Dec. 13. 

“This is when we’re going to come back with this 3D rendering of a design based on all your input that we get,” Fluegge said. “I’ll bring the actual model so we can kind of like cruise around through the park, and I can pull the dimensions and stuff like that if you guys wanted to see steps, radiuses, all that stuff.”

After the town’s approval of the final design, Grindline will then embark on the building process. Mass excavation, drainage work, placement and finishing will all be carefully completed by Grindline. Fluegge said he and his team hope to ensure a better-lasting and cared-for park than the Gypsum skate park already in existence. 

“This is kind of where we hand over the park to you guys as a community, say our goodbyes and it’s yours, take care of it and use it from there,” Fluegge said.